


Believe That Magic Works

by doodles357



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Best Friends, Budding Love, Crushes, Developing Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-03-08 00:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18884809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodles357/pseuds/doodles357
Summary: Over the seven years that he has at Hogwarts, Cyrus has the chance to learn magic, make new friends, embark on magical adventures, and maybe meet that special someone.





	1. Year One

**Author's Note:**

> A million years ago I wrote my first piece of fanfiction, which was Harry Potter. Now I'm writing my first HP AU, and I can't believe I've never done one before. Basically, each chapter will focus on a different year. A lot of them will be based on specific prompts, but some will be ones I came up with. Most chapters won't focus on the entire year, but just little snapshots of major things that happened.

_First year_

Even though it was close to midnight, Cyrus Goodman couldn’t fall asleep. He stared up at the top of his four-poster bed, listening to the deep breathing of his fellow roommates. After dreaming about it his entire life, he was finally at Hogwarts. The whole day seemed to have passed in one giant, exciting blur. Passing through the brick wall to get to the train platform, finding a compartment with Andi and Buffy, sailing across the lake in a boat, (almost falling out of said boat at one point), getting his first glimpse of the majestic castle, having the Sorting Hat placed on his head and hearing ‘HUFFLEPUFF’ yelled out, and enjoying the feast with the rest of the school. Now here he was. He knew he needed to go to sleep, since his classes started first thing in the morning, but his brain wouldn’t shut up and let him sleep.

He was a mixture of nerves and excitement. As long as he could remember, he had wanted to learn how to do magic properly, but now that he was only hours away, he was starting to worry a little bit. What if he wasn’t any good at it? And what if he had trouble making friends? He hadn’t been too surprised that he had ended up in different houses than his friends; they were all pretty different from one another, and they had been expecting that to happen. Still, it would be a little daunting to go into his classes without Andi or Buffy at his side.

But he would be learning magic soon. And that excited him so much that it almost erased his nerves. Sure, he had managed to make a few things happen when he was younger, but that was so random and spontaneous. He didn’t really have control over it. Now, he had his own wand, and he was going to be able to do spells and actually perform magic. And with that in mind, he was finally able to drift off to sleep.

The next morning dawned bright and early, and Cyrus found himself slightly regretting having stayed up so late. He followed the rest of the Hufflepuff boys down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It struck him that he would be living with them for the next seven years. Growing up, he had made friends with Buffy and Andi so young that he barely remembered a time when he didn’t know them. The three of them had formed their own little group and stuck together. Cyrus didn’t really have any experience in making friends aside from them, and he wasn’t sure how to start.

Once they tucked into breakfast and started to feel a little more awake, the conversation started up. Most of it revolved around their families and home lives. Cyrus had grown up in a pureblood family and had known about magic and the wizarding world his entire life. It was interesting to hear from the others who had different experiences. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live in the Muggle world and find out about everything later on in life.

The talk soon turned to Quidditch, which made Cyrus groan internally. He wasn’t against the sport, but it wasn’t one of his greatest interests, and he knew he definitely wouldn’t be playing. A couple of the boys started explaining the game to another who came from a Muggle family and had no knowledge of the sport. Cyrus found himself tuning the conversation out and was startled when the boy sitting across from him spoke to him.

“Do you know when we get our schedules?” he asked. Cyrus was pretty sure his name was Jonah.

“I think they’re supposed to hand them out pretty soon,” Cyrus replied. Sure enough, a stout woman with flyaway hair was walking along the table, passing out sheets of parchment to students.

“That’s Professor Sprout,” one of the other boys said. “She’s the Herbology professor, and she’s our head of house.”

Soon, the woman reached their little group and handed them all their schedules. Cyrus scanned his eagerly. He had Charms first thing, and then Transfiguration. After lunch, they had flying lessons (he groaned internally again), and then Potions.

“We get to fly today!” one of the boys exclaimed. “Excellent!”

It looked like their flying lessons were with the first year Gryffindors. Cyrus wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he was glad he would be seeing Buffy so soon. On the other hand, she was already a very skilled flier, and he was decidedly not. He sighed and finished up his toast. He supposed he would just have to hope for the best.

His first two classes were interesting and just as exciting as he had hoped. They got to start practicing magic right away, and while his feather didn’t quite float in Charms, he did get it to twitch and hop up a few times. He resolved to practice and get it to float by the next class period. He also didn’t have a ton of luck in Transfiguration, but their professor didn’t seem surprised, saying that most people struggled at first.

After lunch, he headed down to the grounds, feeling slightly queasy. He had tried flying before, and it had not gone well. Not only had he done it against his parents’ rule, but he had managed to hurt himself in the process. He wasn’t looking forward to trying again. When he got to the class, most of the Gryffindors were already there, all of them looking eager to get started. His fellow Hufflepuffs were a mixture of excited and nervous. Buffy bounded over to him as he approached.

“This is so great,” she said. “I hope we have more classes together. Aren’t you excited?”

He made a face and she laughed.

“You’ll be fine this time,” she reassured him. “We have a real teacher, and you’ll learn how to do it the right way.”

“I don’t understand why I have to learn it at all,” he complained. “It’s not like I’m going to play Quidditch.”

“Yeah, but you can still travel by broom,” she countered. “So, it’s important that you learn how.”

Over her shoulder, Cyrus noticed that one of the Gryffindor boys was attempting to inconspicuously listen in on their conversation. He wasn’t sure what that was about, but he didn’t let it worry him. Maybe he was just curious as to how the two of them were friends already.

Once everyone was there, Madam Hooch had everyone line up next to a broom, hold a hand above it, and call for it to jump up into their hand. Buffy’s shot up immediately, and she grinned triumphantly. Cyrus’ didn’t move an inch. Maybe it could tell that he wanted it to stay stationary on the ground. Around him, his classmates had a variety of reactions. Some had their brooms float up, while others jerked sporadically, but didn’t get high enough.

The boy that Cyrus had noticed earlier was standing next to Buffy and had shot her an annoyed look when her broom shot up right away. He glared down at his own and yelled,

“UP!”

It shot up so hard that it whacked him in the face. He stumbled backwards, clutching his nose and yelped in pain. A few people laughed at the sight, including Buffy. He glared at her, before marching over to his broom and trying again. This time, it snapped up to his hand. The boy shot another look at Buffy, and she just cocked an eyebrow. Cyrus recognized it as her competitive look, and he realized that she must have already gotten into it with this boy. He rolled his eyes, although not without affection, and turned his attention back to his own broom. After a bit of coaxing, it finally drifted up to his hand.

To his great relief, the rest of the class was just practicing mounting the broom, hovering, and dismounting. He could see that a lot of people were disappointed that they weren’t actually flying, but he was more than okay with it. The closer he was to the ground, the safer he felt. Afterwards, he and Buffy walked together back up to the castle, chatting about how their classes were going.

He noticed that the boy from earlier kept glancing back in their direction from where he was walking with a couple of the other Gryffindor boys. Finally, he asked Buffy about him.

“Oh, that’s Marty,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He thinks he’s going to be better at Quidditch than me. As if. He also said that there’s no way I could get on the team as a first year, but I’m going to try.”

“I thought first years weren’t allowed to try out?” Cyrus questioned. His suspicions about the competitiveness was confirmed at least.

“I don’t care,” Buffy said dismissively. “It’s happened before. And if I’m good enough, they’ll have to let me on the team.”

Cyrus knew there was no use in arguing with her, and he also knew that if anyone stood a chance of getting onto a Quidditch team as a first year, it was Buffy.

His last class of the day was Potions. To his surprise, he found that he was very good at it. Professor Slughorn had them make a simple potion on their own, and Cyrus had no trouble with it at all. Some of his fellow classmates definitely struggled with it, if the strange smells wafting through the classroom were any indication. Slughorn took time to praise his potion, and excitedly told Cyrus how he had taught both his parents. Then Cyrus had to have a very awkward conversation where he explained that his parents (apparently the golden couple at Hogwarts during their time) had actually gotten divorced and remarried to other people. Slughorn seemed a little down after that, but he still gave Cyrus ten points for making the potion correctly, which was super exciting.

\-----

The year seemed to start off slowly, but soon flew by as everyone settled into a routine. While there were definitely times when Cyrus did not feel as enthusiastic about his classes (History of Magic essays came to mind), he still found it exciting to be learning how to do magic. He began making friends, both in his house and in other ones as well. He became pretty close with Jonah, who fit in well with Andi and Buffy, and the four of them ended up spending a lot of time together. There was also an older Hufflepuff girl, Iris, who he ended up bonding with over Potions.

Through Andi and Buffy, he met and befriended people from other houses. Marty hung out with them frequently, and it soon became abundantly clear that he had a huge crush on Buffy, despite their constant arguments. Andi introduced them to Walker, a Ravenclaw boy who shared her passion for art. They also somehow ended up friends with Amber, a Slytherin third year, who was close with Iris. It was hard for everyone to spend time together, especially with classes going on, but they were able to meet up at meals and on the weekends.

True to her prediction, Buffy made school history by making it onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a first year. Apparently, when she turned up to try out, she simply didn’t tell the captain that she was a first-year, and had such an impressive tryout that he didn’t want to tell her no. As a result, Cyrus found himself watching Quidditch more often than he had thought. It was a little awkward during Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff games, but he and Andi had fun creating posters to support Buffy.

Before he knew it, the school year was coming to an end. Everyone was busy studying for finals, which became increasingly difficult as the weather outside got nicer. While Cyrus would be glad to have a few months break from schoolwork, he was already feeling a little sad about the year ending. Even though he would be able to spend all summer with Andi and Buffy, he would miss his other friends that didn’t live near him.

At the end of the year feast, Cyrus was a mixture of relieved (from being done with exams) and sad because he would be leaving a lot of friends. To his great surprise, Hufflepuff won the House Cup that year, and his entire table rose up in a wave of celebration. Cyrus wasn’t used to winning anything and knowing that he had helped through gaining points was extremely uplifting, and he found himself cheering as loudly as the rest of his house.

On the train ride back home, he found himself in a compartment with Andi, Buffy, and Jonah. They swapped candy and messed around with minor spells, relishing the few hours they had left to use magic before summer. Marty swung by at one point to challenge Buffy to a flying race when they got back after summer ended. A few other people stopped in their compartment at one point or another, mostly to say goodbye for the summer.

At King’s Cross, Cyrus felt a wave of sadness as he stepped back through the barrier that led to the Muggle train station. His first year had been wonderful, and even though he was looking forward to summer, he also couldn’t wait to go back for more.


	2. Second Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on two separate AU prompts.

_Second Year_

Cyrus was leaving his Transfiguration class when he heard a commotion in the hallway up ahead. At first, he just figured that some people were messing around, or someone was playing a prank, but as he drew closer to the source of the disturbance, he realized that something else was going on.

A group of fourth year students were surrounding a few younger students, who were likely first years. The older students seemed to be taunting the younger ones about something. Cyrus recognized a few of the fourth years; Billy Treiger was one of them, which told him everything he needed to know about the situation. He was a Slytherin who came from a long line of purebloods, which he liked to remind people whenever he had the chance. In addition to that, he was a bully and a jerk to everyone who wasn’t in his little circle of friends. As he got older, he took delight in bullying students who were younger and less skilled than him.

Cyrus didn’t really know any of the younger students, who were a mixture of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. A few of them looked nervous about the situation they were in, although one of them – a Ravenclaw girl, who was glaring Billy down with a defiant expression – looked like she was ready to fight back.

“Can you believe how stupid first years are?” he heard Billy crowing with delight to his friends. “They don’t even know where the Owlery is!”

“Normal schools don’t have owls in them,” the Ravenclaw girl shot back. “Plus, I don’t have an owl, so why should I care?”

“Normal schools?” Billy repeated incredulously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Schools that don’t teach magic,” the girl retorted. “Like, every other school in the world.”

Billy got a nasty look on his face at that comment. “Well, that explains everything,” he said mockingly. “No wonder she doesn’t know anything. Mudbloods never do.”

There were a few shocked gasps from the bystanders at the offensive word that Billy let slip. Even though people knew it, nobody actually said it out loud. But Billy was from a family that probably used language like that in casual conversation in the privacy of their own home.

Cyrus’ blood was boiling now. He couldn’t believe that Billy actually had the nerve to use such a word against someone, especially considering the history that it carried. It had only been a decade or two since the war, and the Wizarding World still bore some pretty fresh scars from what had happened. The girl who Billy had insulted looked more confused than insulted, but she was taking in the reactions of the people around her and seemed to be figuring out that he had called her something pretty bad.

Without even thinking about it, Cyrus pulled out his wand and pointed it at Billy. He didn’t care if he got in trouble for using magic in the hallways. Billy had always gotten under his skin, and he was sick of the other boy getting away with things that he shouldn’t. Using racist slurs wasn’t acceptable in any context, and it was time for him to get a taste of his own medicine.

_“Locomotor Wibbly!”_ Cyrus shouted, aiming directly at Billy. However, to his great surprise, someone jumped in front of him, fist raised. The person in question managed to punch Billy directly in the face right before Cyrus’ spell hit him in the back. Billy fell backwards, howling in pain as he clutched at his bleeding nose. The other person also fell, their legs wobbling uncontrollably underneath them. Cyrus cursed under his breath and ran forward to try and rectify the situation.

“What is the meaning of this?!” came the sharp exclamation that made everyone in the hallway freeze. The Headmistress, Professor McGonagall was walking towards the group that had formed, most likely having overheard the commotion. She waved her wand, causing the boy’s legs to stop moving. Billy was still groaning in pain, and she frowned in his direction, taking in the blood.

“What is going on?” she said, staring down all the students in the vicinity. Everyone looked nervously around, not sure if they should break the silence or not.

“He punched me in the face,” Billy cried out, pointing at the boy who had now propped himself up. The boy glared at Billy in response.

“Because you deserved it.”

“Mr. Kippen, what is the meaning of this?” Professor McGonagall demanded.

“He was calling people names,” the boy protested, hauling himself to his feet.

“Names?” McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not repeating what he said,” the boy said. Cyrus vaguely recognized him now as a Slytherin who was in his year. He was pretty sure his name was TJ.

“He said it to me,” the Ravenclaw first year piped up. “I don’t know what it meant. But he called me a Mudblood.”

There seemed to be a collective intake of breath from everyone in the corridor as the word was uttered again. McGonagall’s expression darkened as she looked back at Billy.

“My office,” she said shortly.

“But -” Billy protested, still clutching at his nose.

“Now,” she said. Even though her tone of voice didn’t change, Cyrus could tell she was furious. “Everyone else, get to where you are supposed to be. Mr. Kippen, wait here.”

With that, everyone in the hallway began to disperse.  Billy trundled off to McGonagall’s office, with her walking closely behind him. Cyrus waited until the hallway had mostly cleared out. He had a free period next, so he didn’t have to worry about being somewhere. TJ had slumped against the wall, carefully flexing and unflexing the fingers on his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Cyrus said, approaching the other boy. TJ looked up in surprise.

“For what?” he asked.

“I hit you with the Jelly-Legs Curse,” he explained. “I was aiming for Billy, but you got in the way.”

TJ looked surprised for a second, but then laughed.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I got my punch in, so that’s all that really mattered. It was kind of my fault for getting in your way.”

“How’s your hand?” Cyrus asked. TJ glanced down at it.

“Sore, but it’ll be fine. I’ll probably stop in by the hospital wing after this to get it checked out.”

“Do you think you’ll get in trouble?” Cyrus asked.

TJ just shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t care about detention though. Plus, McGonagall likes me, so I’m sure she won’t be too harsh. And she definitely looked more pissed at Billy.”

“I can’t stand him,” Cyrus said vehemently.

“At least you don’t have to share a common room with him,” TJ grimaced, glancing at Cyrus’ Hufflepuff colors. “It’s like I can never escape his idiocy.”

“I just don’t understand how people still think that way,” Cyrus said. “After everything…”

“Yeah,” TJ sighed. “It’s not super common, but there are definitely still people who feel like they’re better than others, just because of their blood status. I don’t know about the other houses, but there are still some Slytherins who come from those old families who tend to follow that old line of thinking. It’s a lot better than it used to be, but I still hear stuff from time to time.”

“At least McGonagall is the one yelling at him,” Cyrus reasoned. “He won’t know what hit him.”

TJ laughed slightly at that. “That’s for sure. He’s going to be in detention all year.”

A pause entered the conversation. Cyrus realized it was the first time that he had ever actually talked to TJ. They had a few double periods together over the years, but they had never interacted in those classes, preferring to work with friends from their own classes. And of course, he had seen TJ playing on the Slytherin Quidditch team. He didn’t know much about the other boy, aside from the fact that he was very good at Quidditch and generally seemed to be well-liked. And apparently was willing to engage in Muggle fighting.

Now that they were standing face-to-face, he also noticed that TJ was rather cute.

“Your name is Cyrus, right?” TJ interrupted his thoughts. When Cyrus nodded in agreement, TJ smiled. “I was pretty sure, but I just wanted make sure I was talking to the right person.”

“I’m surprised you know who I am,” Cyrus said jokingly. “I’m not exactly popular or anything.”

“You were the best one in our Potions class,” TJ insisted. “You always finished up before anyone, and had it done perfectly.”

“Oh, I guess,” Cyrus said in surprise. Potions was his best subject, but he didn’t think anyone would have noticed, aside from Professor Slughorn.

“I’m terrible at Potions,” TJ said with a self-deprecating smile. “I’m pretty sure I’m Slughorn’s personal disappointment, since I’m in his house and all. But I’m also pretty terrible at baking, which is kind of similar. You know, following a recipe and measuring and all that.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually baked anything before,” Cyrus said. He was starting to get more curious about TJ. Most people didn’t really take time to bake; they just prepared food using magic since it was faster. That tended to be more of a Muggle activity. Before he could say anything else though, their conversation was interrupted.

“Mr. Kippen, my office please. Mr. Goodman, don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”

“I have a free period right now, Professor,” Cyrus said as the two boys turned to face the woman. Her brow furrowed.

“Is there a reason you’re still here? Did you have some involvement in this incident?”

“I tried to hex Billy, but I hit TJ by accident,” Cyrus admitted. He knew he could have lied and gotten off scot-free, but he had been willing to get in trouble if it meant shutting Billy up. Plus, he was too scared to actually lie to McGonagall. She eyed him for a second, and Cyrus could almost see his weekends filling up with detentions. Then she raised an eyebrow and merely said,

“Well, go find something productive to do. I need to speak with Mr. Kippen here.”

Cyrus was surprised that he wasn’t getting in trouble, but he wasn’t going to question it. He smiled at TJ in farewell and turned to walk away. As TJ followed McGonagall to her office, something made Cyrus pause and turn back to look at them. At the same time, TJ turned around as well. Catching Cyrus’ eye, he winked before turning to face front before McGonagall saw him.

Feeling the heat rise in his cheeks, Cyrus turned back and headed towards the Hufflepuff common room, mind whirling. What was that supposed to have meant? He supposed he would just keep an eye out from now on and see if fate threw him and TJ Kippen together again.

\----------

Cyrus prided himself on doing well in school, and that meant completing all his assignments on time and to the best of his ability. He never had to make excuses for forgetting an assignment or not turning something in when it was due. So, when he realized that he had never actually written the History of Magic essay that was due at the start of class, he almost had a panic attack. As his classmates pulled out their parchments, many of them grumbling about how hard it had been, Cyrus was trying his best not to hyperventilate.

He remembered writing it down in his planner, but somehow it had gotten forgotten in between other assignments and creating some new posters for the upcoming Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match. He was going to be supporting Gryffindor (or Buffy, at any rate) and he needed a new poster since his last one had accidentally been set on fire (long story).

Making a show of looking through his bag, although he knew he had no homework to produce, his fingers brushed against something at the bottom. It was a Puking Pastille; Marty had given him one a few weeks ago. Cyrus figured that he would never need to use one, and he hated throwing up, so he didn’t see the point of it. But now, faced with the reality that he hadn’t done his homework, he was seriously considering using it. He glanced briefly around the classroom. Over the past two years, he had developed a reputation for being one of the best students. And there were certain classmates of his who would definitely jump on the opportunity to mock him endlessly about missing an assignment.

So, after making sure that no one was watching him, he quickly unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth. A few seconds later, he was puking rather dramatically on the floor next to his desk. The kids sitting near him leapt backwards with various shrieks of disgust.

“What is the matter?” Professor Binns asked slowly, noticing the commotion.

“I don’t feel well,” Cyrus managed to get out. There were only a few minutes between pukes, and he wanted to get out of the classroom before it happened again.

“Hospital wing,” Binns said, more like a suggestion than a demand. Cyrus took it though and sprinted from the room.

Out in the hallway, he paused and leaned against a wall. He could feel the bile rising again and looked around frantically. There was a decorative vase on a plinth. Before he could think it through, he had rushed forward and managed to empty the contents of his stomach inside of it. Wiping his mouth, he backed away from the vase. If he had known the Vanishing spell, he would have used it, but it was way too advanced of a spell.

Instead, he continued onto the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey would likely recognize that it was a Puking Pastille, but he was willing to be admonished if it meant he could finish his missing assignment. It was odd, he realized as he walked down the hallway, that he didn’t feel sick. In the moment that he was throwing up, he definitely did, but when he was in between vomits, he felt perfectly fine. Must be a part of how the candies worked.

He was only a corridor away when he felt it again. Luckily, there was a bathroom up ahead, so he dashed inside and made it in front of a toilet just in time. He didn’t think he even had that much food in his stomach, but it may have been part of the charm that caused stuff to keep coming up. Wiping his mouth, he stood up and exited the stall. Hopefully he could make it to the hospital wing without any more incidents.

“Cyrus?” he heard from behind him suddenly. He turned and saw TJ standing in the doorway, looking concerned.

“Are you all right?” TJ asked, hurrying forward. Cyrus caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and was startled at what he saw. His face was pale, and he had dark shadows under his eyes. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have believed that he was actually sick.

“I heard someone throwing up. Was that you?” TJ had a look of concern etched on his face, and he tentatively touched Cyrus’ elbow.

“Yeah, that was me,” Cyrus said, surprised at the croakiness of his own voice. Now that he was over his bout of vomiting, he felt fine, but the candy was really working its magic to make him seem ill.

“Were you on your way to the hospital wing?” TJ asked. When Cyrus nodded, TJ got a look of determination on his face. “Okay, let’s go.”

“You don’t have to help me,” Cyrus protested weakly, but TJ took a firmer grasp of his elbow and started steering him towards the door.

“I want to make sure that you get there okay,” TJ replied. His other hand was resting gently on the small of Cyrus’ back, and it was taking everything in Cyrus’ power to walk in a straight line. He and TJ hadn’t actually talked since that day in the corridor, but whenever they saw each other in the halls, TJ flashed a brilliant smile at him and waved. He had also heard through the grapevine that TJ had received a few detentions, but Billy had gotten suspended from Quidditch and assigned an essay on the dangers of discrimination.

“I think it was just something I ate,” Cyrus mumbled weakly, but it didn’t deter TJ. Soon enough, they reached the hospital wing. As they entered, Madam Pomfrey came out to meet them. Before Cyrus could explain what was wrong though, he felt the all-too-familiar sensation arising again. He clamped a hand over his mouth, and Madam Pomfrey quickly summoned a bucket just in time.

“Into bed,” she declared after he finished, ushering towards one. She vanished the contents of the bucket with a wave of her wand, and bustled off to look for something to help him.

“You can go back to class now, Mr. Kippen,” she called over her shoulder to TJ.

“Thanks,” Cyrus said, feeling embarrassed that TJ had seen him throwing up again.

“Yeah,” TJ said, shuffling his feet slightly. “I hope you feel better,” he continued, giving Cyrus a soft smile.

“Me too,” Cyrus said with a wry smile. TJ started to leave, glancing back at Cyrus one last time before he did, almost walking into the doorframe as he did. Cyrus bit back a smile as TJ quickly righted himself and left the hospital wing. It was hard to tell from where he was sitting, but it looked as though the backs of TJ’s ears were turning red.

It took Madam Pomfrey all of two minutes to figure out that it was a Puking Pastille, and Cyrus had to listen to a lecture on not using prank items to get out of class. However, once he took the antidote, he was able to settle back and work on his History of Magic homework. He also double and triple checked to make sure he had all his other homework accounted for.

Even though he was feeling better, Madam Pomfrey insisted that he stay in the hospital wing until the next morning. It meant that he would miss out on the rest of his classes, as well as dinner, and the free time he usually spent finishing up homework and catching up with his friends. It was pretty boring, just sitting in the hospital wing, but he supposed it was better than getting detention for using the candy. It did also mean that dinner was looking like it was going to be just sandwiches.

Cyrus had just finished putting everything away in his bag and wishing that he had something to occupy his time with, when he heard a gentle knock. Looking up, to his surprise, TJ stood in the doorway, holding a bowl.

“Hi,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

“A lot better,” Cyrus said honestly. TJ peered into the room, looking around almost furtively.

“She’s in her office,” Cyrus told him quietly.

“Oh, okay,” TJ said, stepping in to the room fully, sitting down next to Cyrus’ bed. Now Cyrus could see what was in the bowl.

“Chicken noodle soup,” TJ said, offering it to him. “I always eat it when I’m feeling sick. I thought you might want some, if you’re feeling up to it.”

“Oh!” Cyrus said in surprise, taking the hot bowl from him. It smelled delicious, despite the fact that he had finished up two sandwiches before TJ had come in. But the other boy had gone through the effort of sneaking it all the way down to the hospital wing for him, so he wasn’t going to turn it down.

“Thank you,” he said, smiling at TJ, before digging into the soup. It tasted as delicious as it smelled, and he had it finished soon.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” TJ said as he watched Cyrus inhale the soup. Cyrus paused briefly so he could talk.

“Oh…yeah,” he said, feeling somewhat sheepish. “I think I might have eaten something bad. I don’t think I was actually sick.”

He felt a little embarrassed about the whole situation. While he had managed to get out of History of Magic, and get his assignment done, he hadn’t been expecting to bump into anyone on the way. And then TJ had been so nice about it; escorting him to the hospital wing and bringing him soup. There was no way he could tell him the whole truth without feeling bad about it.

“Well, that’s good!” TJ said cheerfully, before launching into a description of something funny that had happened during dinner. TJ had a knack for telling stories, and Cyrus soon found himself laughing hard at his retelling. It got to the point that they were both laughing so hard that Madam Pomfrey came out of her office to yell at them. She ordered TJ to go back to his common room, since it was getting close to curfew. Cyrus was surprised to see how late it had gotten. Talking with TJ had just happened so naturally that he hadn’t noticed time passing.

TJ gave him a wave before he left, and Cyrus thanked him again for the soup. This time, TJ managed to exit the hospital wing without incident. As Cyrus slumped back against his pillows, he felt a mixture of emotions. He did feel a little guilty about not telling TJ the whole truth about his sickness, but after everything TJ had done for him, he didn’t want to admit that he had been (technically) faking it. He also did feel a little relieved that he had managed to get his homework done at least.

And he was feeling something else too. Something that was harder to put into words. When he thought about the other boy, he felt a funny fluttering feeling in his stomach. He didn’t even really know TJ that well yet, but he found it so easy to talk to him and simply be around him. Cyrus had a tendency to feel awkward around people he didn’t know very well, but with TJ, it almost felt as though he had known him all his life. And he was super nice too. Not only was he someone who stood up for others, but he had been thoughtful enough to bring Cyrus some soup when he wasn’t feeling well.

TJ Kippen was an interesting guy for sure. Cyrus couldn’t help but wonder what their future interactions would be like.


	3. Third Year

Third year meant a lot of new things; new spells to learn, new classes, and trips to Hogsmeade. Cyrus was more than ready to get back to school after summer had ended. He had missed his friends and was sure that third year was going to be a fun one. Plus, he had a bunch of new classes that he was very excited about.

On the morning of their first day of classes, he met his friends for breakfast at the Ravenclaw table. Breakfast was a little more lax, so it didn’t matter if they weren’t sitting at their house tables. Over the course of his first two years at Hogwarts, Cyrus’ friend circle had expanded to include people from all four of the houses. While it meant he got to know a lot of different people, and had access to all four common rooms, it also meant that he didn’t get to see his friends as often, since houses were usually grouped accordingly.

Everyone started comparing their schedules right away to see what they had together. Cyrus had ambitiously signed up for Divination, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies. He thought that the first two would be interesting, as they both were attempts to predict the future. He also enjoyed working with numbers, and there weren’t any other classes that provided that opportunity. And he had decided to take Muggle Studies, because he really didn’t know a lot about Muggles. Some of his friends had Muggle family members – Marty was half-blood, and Iris was Muggleborn – but he really didn’t know all that much about the society and culture of Muggles, and he thought it would be interesting to learn.

Buffy happily pointed out that they had Arithmancy together third period, as well as double Charms together. Andi was in his Muggle Studies class, but nobody else had chosen Divination. A few of his other friends had double classes for their regular subjects, which he was happy about. At least he would know a few people in his classes.

He headed off to Transfiguration first, ready to get the year off to a good start. His day passed in a bit of a blur. Most of the classes that he had taken years previous were a bit boring. Their teachers went over expectations and what they were going to be covering that year. In Arithmancy, he and Buffy quickly claimed seats next to one another, and listened eagerly as their teacher explained how the class would run. It sounded like it would definitely be a challenge, which Cyrus was very excited to tackle.

There was a break for lunch, and then he was off to Divination. Last year, when he had been picking out classes, he had heard mixed reviews from older students who had taken the class previously. Some of them swore that Divination worked, and that they had been able to accurately predict things. Others said it was a waste of time, and they just made stuff up the entire time. There were also conflicting views on Professor Trelawny. Rumors had floated around that she had made real prophecies, back during the time of the war, but there never seemed to be any definitive proof to them. Cyrus decided he would give it a shot, and if he really didn’t like it, he could drop the class.

He knew the classroom was at the top of one of the towers, but he didn’t realize how much of a hike it would be. Needless to say, he was out of breath by the time he reached the classroom. Hoisting himself up the ladder, he finally made it into the room. A few students were there already, scattered throughout the room. A couple of them were chatting quietly, but it seemed like most of them didn’t know anyone else. Cyrus sat down at an empty table and tried to catch his breath.

While in the process of digging his textbook out of his bag, someone plopped down in the seat across from him. Looking up, he was surprised to see TJ sitting there.

“Hi,” TJ gave him a big grin. “I didn’t know you were taking this class.”

“I didn’t know you were either,” Cyrus replied, smiling back. He was happy to find that there was someone he knew in the class. And a tiny part of him was glad that this meant he would get to spend more time with TJ (who seemed to have grown even taller over the summer).

“I always want to know what my future is,” TJ said. “I can’t believe this is a real class.”

“Well, I’ve heard different things about that,” Cyrus told him. “I guess we’ll just have to find out.”

Soon enough, Professor Trelawny swept into the room and greeted the class. She made a few minor predictions throughout the course of the period, which were greeted with a mixture of rapt stares and eye rolls. Cyrus still wasn’t sure how he felt about Divination, but he was willing to keep an open mind. TJ, however, was one of the students seemingly hanging onto her every word.

“This is so cool,” he gushed to Cyrus after class had let out. “I can’t wait to try it myself.”

“Would you want to know everything about the future though?” Cyrus asked. “Personally, I’d like one or two surprises.”

“I guess,” TJ shrugged. “But it’d also be nice to know where my life is headed.”

“What class do you have next?” Cyrus asked as they reached a main corridor.

“Muggle Studies,” TJ told him.

“Really? Me too!” Cyrus said, grinning.

“Nice!” TJ said. He slung an arm around Cyrus’ shoulders as they walked, surprising Cyrus. It was a casual gesture, but considering the fact that he and TJ weren’t super close, he hadn’t been expecting anything like that. Not that he was complaining, of course.

When they reached the classroom, TJ pulled his arm back, much to Cyrus’ disappointment. There were only a few students in there, so they had their choice of seats. They sat down at a table together and both pulled out their textbooks.

“This should be an interesting class,” Cyrus remarked. “Definitely different from anything else we have.”

“For sure,” TJ said with a wry grin. Cyrus was slightly confused at the expression. But before he could say anything else, he felt a poke in between his shoulder blades. Turning, he saw Andi sitting at the table behind him, giving him a look.

“Andi!” he said, the realization hitting him that was supposed to have met up with her before the class to get seats together.

“Forget something?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. She didn’t actually look upset though; after casting a curious glance at TJ, she looked more amused than anything.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I just got caught up in conversation.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a long-suffering sigh. “I’ll be fine back here. By myself.”

She flashed a smile at him to let him know she was joking, and he sighed in relief. TJ was looking curiously between the two and Cyrus realized he should make introductions.

“Uh, Andi, this is TJ. TJ, Andi.”

“You’re on the Slytherin Quidditch team, right?” Andi said, turning her attention towards TJ.

“Yup,” he said. “Do you play?”

Andi just laughed. “Nope, I’m not athletic enough for that.”

Cyrus raised his hand and gave her a high five at that comment. “Same. We’re the official cheering section.”

TJ laughed as their professor stepped up to the front of the classroom and called for attention. Turning back to face the front, Cyrus focused his attention back on the class.

\-----------

As the school year got into full swing, Cyrus began to fall into a comfortable routine. He found that he was enjoying his new classes and was also to surprised that he was making new friends. He had been lucky enough to find a group at the beginning of his time at Hogwarts, but he wasn’t opposed to expanding it.

The standout person was TJ, of course. Aside from the two new classes they had together, he found out that Potions was a double class with the Slytherins, as it had been the previous two years. In that class, he and TJ didn’t really sit together, since they had their own groups within their houses, but they often chatted before class if they got there early, and TJ sometimes walked with him after class.

The majority of their interactions were in Divination and Muggle Studies. Cyrus found that he was growing more skeptical of Divination – or at least Professor Trelawney’s version of it – while TJ continued to embrace it as complete truth. This led to some friendly debate between the two of the, but Cyrus found that he enjoyed it. He didn’t feel that strongly about Divination one way or another, but it was fun to go back and forth with TJ over whether it was real or not.

Muggle Studies ended up being harder than he had expected. There was a large historical element to it, which made sense, but it was a lot to remember, especially on top of History of Magic. And since Muggles didn’t have magic, they relied a lot on science and technology to make things work. After more than one class, Cyrus left with his head spinning as he tried to understand how all the different little parts of a car worked together.

He found that he much rather enjoyed learning about the culture and traditions aspect of Muggle society. It was easier to understand, and it was actually pretty fascinating. However, that aspect was not covered as often as the technical stuff, so he found himself struggling through difficult essays on more than one occasion.

After complaining about it to TJ one afternoon, he was surprised when the other boy offered to let him read over his own essay. TJ’s essay was straightforward and easy to follow. In fact, it made more sense than how their teacher had explained it.

“How are you so good at this?” Cyrus asked after he had finished reading it. He and TJ had claimed a table in the library, and TJ was reading through his History of Magic textbook while he waited for Cyrus to finish up.

TJ shrugged. “It’s easy when you grew up with it.”

“Wait,” Cyrus squinted at his friend. “Are you…Muggleborn?”

He honestly didn’t know anything about TJ’s family or background, but it made some sense the more he thought about it. TJ had some odd quirks and habits that seemed out of place. The fact that he had automatically punched Billy instead of using magic, his complete faith in Divination being real, and his interest in activities that most wizards didn’t usually partake in. Cyrus had never been able to figure it out. But if he had been raised by Muggles, it would make more sense.

The only reason it surprised him was because TJ was in Slytherin. That wasn’t to say that it was impossible for half-bloods and Muggleborns to be in the house; it was just pretty rare, especially for Muggleborns.

TJ shrugged and gave a little half smile. Cyrus noticed that he seemed a little uncomfortable.

“Yeah,” he said. “Surprised?”

“No,” Cyrus said. “Well…maybe a little.”

“There aren’t a lot of Muggleborn Slytherins,” TJ said, his smile seeming to be sardonic. “Trust me, I’ve heard.”

“It’s not a bad thing,” Cyrus protested. “Just…you know. Not supper common.”

“I know,” TJ said. “That’s why I don’t broadcast it. Because while most people don’t care, there are still idiots like Billy Treiger around who do think it’s a bad thing.”

“Wait,” Cyrus said, realization clicking in his brain. “Your parents are Muggles.” TJ nodded slowly, looking unsure about where Cyrus was going with it.

“You lived in the Muggle world until you started school here,” he continued. TJ nodded again. “Why are you taking Muggle Studies then?”

TJ laughed that time, the worry disappearing from his face.

“Easy A?” he suggested. When Cyrus looked confused, he elaborated. “The Muggle grading system is a little different. An A is the highest grade you can get.”

“You’re just trying to get more OWLs,” Cyrus said, cocking an eyebrow at him. TJ just shrugged again, adopting an innocent expression.

“No rule against it.”

Cyrus shook his head in mock disbelief. “Well, I’m definitely picking your brain from now on,” he declared. “Since you already know everything.”

“Only if you help me with Potions,” TJ countered, and Cyrus agreed easily. He got out his own essay and got to work on writing. He kept finding that his mind was drifting though. TJ had trusted him with something personal that he clearly hadn’t told a lot of people. The knowledge of that filled him with a feeling that he couldn’t quite identify yet.

\----

In Divination, they were working on reading tea leaves. Cyrus found this to be very frustrating. Not only did he end up accidentally swallowing half of his, but he couldn’t make heads or tails out of the dregs. Some people in the class seemed to have no trouble doing so, but his always just looked like a clump of wet mulch.

He and TJ were working together as usual, and they swapped cups to read each other’s fortunes. Cyrus sighed internally as he looked into TJ’s cup. The other boy’s tea leaves didn’t look any more like shapes than his own did.

“What do you see?” TJ asked eagerly. If it weren’t for TJ’s unending enthusiasm for Divination, Cyrus was sure he would hate the class a lot more. Even though he thought a lot of it was nonsense, TJ was convinced that they could really see the future, and his excitement was cute.

“Um,” Cyrus said, swirling the contents of the cup, as though that would make a difference. He didn’t want to disappoint TJ, who was all but bouncing up and down with excitement. “I think…that kind of looks like…a bouquet of flowers?”

He flipped his book open and started thumbing through the pages to the explanations.

“A bouquet can mean that you’re going to have good luck; this could mean good friends, success, and a happy love life.”

“Nice,” TJ grinned. “What else?”

“Oh, that’s not enough for you?” Cyrus snarked at him before returning to the cup and swirling again. “It kind of looks like a horseshoe?” He was pretty sure that was one of the signs. “Which means… success in choosing a partner.”

“Apparently my love life is going to be great,” TJ said.

“Mhm,” Cyrus mumbled distractedly. He needed to pick one that didn’t have to do with romance. Peering in the cup again, he squinted at it.

“Looks like a person. With something coming out of their back. Wings?”

“An angel?” TJ suggested.

“Sure, let’s go with that,” Cyrus agreed, returning to the book. “That means…good news, especially in love-related matters.”

Why did he keep picking objects that pointed to TJ’s love life? He was literally choosing objects at random, but they kept relating back to romance. It definitely wasn’t on purpose, but it was weird that it kept happening.

“I think the universe is trying to tell me something,” TJ said with another big grin, leaning back in his chair.

“You’re real eager to get a girlfriend, huh?” Cyrus muttered, flipping through his book again. He was going to pick a sign that had nothing to do with romance. A lot of them foretold bad things happening though, and he didn’t want to pick one of those. He was so absorbed with looking though, that he missed the falter in TJ’s smile at the world ‘girlfriend.’ With a sigh, he looked up at TJ who had an odd expression on his face.

“Want to do mine?” he asked. TJ snapped back to attention and smiled.

“Sure.” He peered seriously into Cyrus’ cup, and Cyrus had to bite back a grin at how serious he looked.

“Hmm, looks like a broom,” he said. “Which means…changes in life.”

“Well, that’s very specific,” Cyrus said sarcastically, causing TJ to laugh.

“Let me keep going,” he said. “Now it looks a bit like a rabbit. That means changes for the better.”

“So, something in my life is going to change for the better,” Cyrus repeated. “A little vague, but at least it’s not foretelling doom.”

“Hold on, I’ll get something better,” TJ said, his face screwing up in concentration as he studied the tea leaves. “Looks like a bird. A big one. A swan, I think.” He consulted his book again. “Good luck and a happy love life.”

“Hmm,” Cyrus mused. “Guess we’ll both be lucky in love. And other life-changing things. Interesting.”

He still didn’t really believe in it, but he would have been lying if he wasn’t at least a little bit intrigued by the prediction that he would have a good love life. Especially since his love life was pretty much nonexistent. Given the fact that TJ had actually tried with his fortune, he supposed there was a greater chance that it would come true, but the other parts were so vague that he could have predicted that himself.

Later that day, when he was alone and working on homework, he couldn’t help but think back on the readings they had done. TJ had never really talked about liking anyone, but he was pretty popular and well-liked, so Cyrus knew that there were definitely girls who had developed crushes on him. TJ hadn’t mentioned anyone who caught his attention, but then again, it wasn’t a topic he and Cyrus had ever really discussed.

For some reason, Cyrus felt a weird twisting sensation in his stomach when he thought about TJ having a long, happy relationship with someone. It was stupid; TJ was his friend. If he did start dating someone, Cyrus should feel happy for him. But the idea of it just left an odd taste in his mouth. He had never felt that way about any of his other friends, many of whom had expressed romantic interest in people, and some who had already started dating.

Cyrus knew that he wasn’t attracted to girls. He had figured that out pretty early on in life. It wasn’t something that he really talked about a lot, but if one of his friends asked, he would be honest about it. He found boys attractive and had harbored the odd crush or two. It didn’t bother him too much that he hadn’t met anyone that he really liked yet, since most guys around his age seemed to be pretty immature still. But sometimes, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to date someone. A little part of him worried that he would fall behind the rest of his friends when it came to experiencing the whole relationship thing. Although, he thought wryly, apparently a happy love life was in his future. At least according to his tea leaves it was.  

He pushed aside his thoughts on the subject, including his confusing thoughts about TJ. He had a Charms essay to write, and no time to be worrying about a future that may not even come true.


	4. Fourth Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I initially started writing this, I was using some random AU prompts which fit better with specific years than others. I decided to fill in the gaps with the other years, but without any specific prompts, which is why some chapters (like this one) will be a little bit shorter than the others.

Cyrus had been looking forward to fourth year for a number of reasons. He was finally set in all of his classes and knew what to expect. He had been at the school long enough that he was (almost) never surprised by anything anymore, and it was the last year that he didn’t have to worry about the big tests that would start the next year. His friend group had expanded considerably, and he was genuinely enjoying the time he was spending at school. And so, he started his fourth year with a great deal of excitement.

On the train ride in, he found himself in a compartment with Andi, Buffy, Jonah and TJ. Buffy and TJ were ribbing each other good-naturedly about the upcoming Quidditch season. When they had first met the previous year, Cyrus had been a little worried that they wouldn’t get along, but after getting over some initial side-eyeing, they found that they actually had a lot in common. Meanwhile, Andi and Jonah were talking quietly in the corner. They had started dating the previous year and were still in what TJ had dubbed “their honeymoon phase.”

 Soon, they arrived at the school and made their way to the Great Hall. Cyrus’ stomach rumbled in anticipation of the feast, and he and Jonah bid farewell to the others as they headed towards the Hufflepuff table. As the feast got underway, Cyrus felt a wave of contentment wash over him. He was thrilled to be back, and he couldn’t wait for the year to really get started.

After their first week of classes, it became clear that things were going to be harder, but Cyrus was determined to continue doing well. O.W.L.s were next year, and he was aiming for all O’s. This meant spending a lot of free time studying. His goal was to find a study buddy for every subject, and he started narrowing down which of his friends were the best at which subject so that he could maximize his efforts.

He found himself stretched out on the lawn near the lake one Saturday afternoon with TJ, both poring over their History of Magic essays. TJ was easily the best at the subject, which Cyrus intended to use to his advantage. They had gotten in the habit the previous year of working on History of Magic and Potions together so that they could help each other out. While Cyrus knew that learning about history was important, he just couldn’t get interested in it. TJ, however, had a passion for the subject, and had a knack for retelling the events in a way that captured Cyrus’ attention. This also meant that he found it easier to write his essay.

However, they found themselves distracted since it was such a nice day out. Autumn was definitely on the way, and they knew that it was probably the last weekend that it would be warm out for a while. Despite his desire to focus on his schoolwork, Cyrus’s attention kept drifting off as a warm breeze swirled across the lake and wafted over them. Abandoning his essay, he flopped over onto his back and sank into the grass.

“Great weather for Quidditch,” TJ remarked casually. Cyrus rolled his eyes with a smile. Between TJ and Buffy, just about every conversation managed to include Quidditch somehow. TJ caught the eye roll though, and lightly swatted Cyrus on the stomach, causing the other boy to laugh and roll back over.

“There are other things in the world besides Quidditch,” Cyrus stated. TJ pulled a mock expression of thinking before shaking his head.

“Nope. Quidditch is the only important thing.”

Cyrus playfully rolled his eyes again before attempting to focus back on his homework. As much as he wanted to just lay in the grass and talk with TJ, he knew that his grades needed his attention more.

As the year progressed, Cyrus found that his study buddy strategy worked pretty well. He expanded beyond his friend group and attempted to partner up with other people in his classes as well. Not only did he get to know other people better and improve his knowledge and skills, but some other benefits came out of it as well.

“You will never guess what just happened!” he exclaimed as he joined his friends at supper one night. He was so excited he was practically bouncing up and down.

“Something good, I take it?” Buffy guessed, clearly noticing how hyped he was.

“I was working on Transfiguration with Leo in the library,” Cyrus said excitedly. “And he asked me out!”

The girls immediately squealed with excitement and began to bombard him with questions. Jonah and Marty both gave him high fives which he returned distractedly as he attempted to answer all the questions. Leo had asked him to go to Hogsmeade with him on the first weekend, and Cyrus had agreed. They had been studying together for a while, and while Cyrus had thought the other boy was cute, he never thought that the feeling would be mutual. Needless to say, he was thrilled about being asked.

Andi started in on planning out what the perfect outfit would be for him to wear, and while Cyrus was attempting to pay attention to her, he couldn’t help but notice that there was one person at the table who wasn’t participating in the conversation. TJ hadn’t said a word since Cyrus had sat down, and it looked like he was inhaling his food. He couldn’t read the expression on TJ’s face, but it was strangely blank. Before he could say anything, his thoughts were interrupted by Andi asking him a question about his shoes.

He didn’t get a chance to talk to TJ until after supper. Normally he would walk back to Hufflepuff common room with Jonah, but the other boy was apparently going to walk around the castle with Andi. Cyrus wasn’t sure exactly what that entailed as far as a date went, but he decided not to question it. Instead, he caught up with TJ, who was walking alone.

“Hey, are you okay?” Cyrus asked as they fell in step together. TJ looked over at him, an expression of confusion on his face.

“Yeah, why?” he asked.

“You just seemed kind of quiet at dinner,” Cyrus said.

“I was just really hungry,” TJ said with a shrug. A silence then fell between them, which felt awkward. They never had awkward silences, and it made Cyrus uncomfortable.

“I know we had plans to hang out at Hogsmeade, and I’m sorry that I changed mine without asking you,” Cyrus said cautiously, wondering if that was what TJ was upset about.

“It’s fine,” TJ said, not meeting Cyrus’ eyes. “It’s your first date. Don’t feel like you can’t go because of me.”

“If you’re sure,” Cyrus said, still feeling unsure.

“It is,” TJ said, finally looking at him. He smiled, but it didn’t seem to meet his eyes. “Congratulations, by the way.” He hesitated slightly, but then just said, “See you tomorrow,” before heading off down the corridor that led to the Slytherin common room.

\-----

The first date went well. Cyrus was so nervous that he almost spilled Butterbeer on himself. Leo didn’t seem to care though, and the two ended up walking around Hogsmeade holding hands, which Cyrus definitely enjoyed. After the first date, they continued going out, and eventually made it official. Cyrus felt as though he was floating on air. He had his first boyfriend, he was doing really well in school, and he was enjoying all the free time he was spending with his friends as well. The only thing that bothered him was TJ.

While the other boy didn’t say anything about it, Cyrus had gotten the impression that he didn’t really like Leo. It didn’t make any sense to him; TJ barely knew him, and Leo was one of the nicest people Cyrus had ever met. None of his other friends had a problem with him, and Cyrus couldn’t figure it out. But he found that he was spending a lot less time with TJ, and it seemed like it was coming from the other boy. Cyrus had always found it a little annoying when one of his friends got into a new relationship, and then basically ignored their friends in favor of spending time with their significant other. He had vowed to never do that, but despite his best efforts, he and TJ never seemed to hang out anymore. It felt as though his friendship with TJ was slipping away, and he had no idea how to fix it.

Things changed around springtime though; he and Leo ended up breaking up. It was an amicable split. While they enjoyed each other’s company and got along well, they really didn’t have much in common, and the romantic feelings that had developed and faded away into just friendship. His friends seemed prepared to pull out all the stops to make him feel better after the breakup, but he didn’t need it. He was a little sad that their relationship was over, but it had ended so well that he couldn’t feel too upset about it.

A few days after the breakup, Cyrus was sitting in the library, attempting to work on another History of Magic essay. However, the material that they had covered in class earlier in the week seemed to have all disappeared from his memory. He stared at the parchment in front of him, willing the essay to magically write itself, but all that accomplished was a slight headache. He was startled out of his annoyance when someone slid into the chair across from him. Looking up, he was surprised to see TJ of all people.

“What’s wrong with your paper?” TJ asked him.

“It’s…supposed to be an essay on the goblin rebellion,” Cyrus said hesitantly. He couldn’t remember the last time he and TJ had spent time one-on-one outside of the group. TJ had been acting so distant lately, and Cyrus hadn’t known how to address it. TJ had never said anything to him but had definitely been avoiding him. Part of Cyrus had to wonder if it had something to do with Leo, and if that was why TJ was now initiating contact again. It still didn’t make sense to him, why TJ hadn’t liked the other boy.

“You can look at my notes if you want,” TJ offered, breaking Cyrus out of his thoughts. He pulled out a few sheets of parchment and handed them across the table. “I finished my essay already.”

“Thanks,” Cyrus said gratefully, taking the notes. While he wasn’t sure how he felt about the way TJ had been acting, he wasn’t upset enough to turn down History of Magic help. Plus, he didn’t want his friendship with TJ to be wrecked. Maybe this was TJ trying to fix things. He wasn’t one to talk about his feelings, so Cyrus knew that he wouldn’t be likely to get an explanation unless he pushed for one.

As he tried to refocus his train of thought on his homework, TJ pulled out his Charms homework and started going through his own notes. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, just like they always had. It almost felt like old times. Over the next few weeks, their friendship returned to normal, and it was soon like nothing had changed at all. At one point, Cyrus asked Buffy if she knew why TJ had been acting so strangely, but all he got was an eye roll and a comment about how boys were stupid.


	5. Fifth Year

To his surprise (and nobody else’s), Cyrus was made Prefect at the beginning of the school year. While he definitely appreciated the honor, he was a little bit nervous about it. He worried slightly that people wouldn’t take him seriously and listen if he attempted to get them to do something. However, his parents were very proud of him, and he knew it would be a great thing to make him look more impressive when he started looking for jobs in a few years, especially if he made it up to Head Boy as well. 

Cyrus was pretty sure he was the only one of his friends actually excited about taking O.W.L.s that year. Sure, he knew it would be intense and stressful, but he was excited to see how well he would do on the tests. His goal was to get all O’s; he would need top marks if he wanted to be successful after leaving Hogwarts. So, he dutifully ignored all the complaints he heard from his fellow classmates, and he started planning out his schedule to best maximize his studying.

However, even Cyrus had a hard time concentrating on schoolwork when it was still nice outside. The weather was stubbornly refusing to turn to autumn, and it was hard to justify studying indoors when a warm breeze stirred across the grounds, and the sun was shining so brightly. So, Cyrus found himself laying out by the lake with TJ, attempting to focus on Transfiguration homework while TJ abandoned his homework completely and simply sprawled in the grass, soaking up the sunlight.

TJ had cheerfully decided to ignore the fact that O.W.L.s were approaching and didn’t seem to be stressing about his homework at all. Instead, he kept interrupting Cyrus with mundane and pointless musings. This included pointing out interesting cloud shapes, speculation on whether Professor McGonagall secretly had organized a cat gang within the school, and whether Slytherin could win the Quidditch Cup that year.

“Do you think the Giant Squid is real?”

Cyrus looked up in slight exasperation. TJ’s grin let him know that the other boy knew exactly how annoying he was being and that he didn’t care.

“Probably,” Cyrus replied. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I’ve never seen it,” TJ replied.

“Lots of people have,” Cyrus said absentmindedly.

“They could be lying,” TJ mused.

“Why don’t you go jump in the lake and find out then?” Cyrus suggested, rolling his eyes. A few moments later, he was distracted by TJ standing up and dropping his robe to the ground. His tie followed seconds later.

“What are you doing?” Cyrus asked in alarm as he looked up at his friend, who was now unbuttoning his shirt.

“Going to look for the Giant Squid,” TJ grinned down at his friend, pulling his shirt off. The white tank top underneath soon followed.

“Why are you taking your clothes off?” Cyrus asked, redirecting his gaze down at his homework. TJ was silhouetted by the sun, and the brightness was hurting his eyes (or at least that’s what he told himself).

“They’ll just drag me down,” TJ replied, kicking his shoes and socks off. To Cyrus’ great shock, his pants soon followed. Standing there in nothing but his underwear, TJ gazed out at the lake with a contemplative expression.

“Wizards don’t have swim suits, huh?” TJ mused, clearly not expecting an answer. “All right, here I go.”

In disbelief, Cyrus watched as his friend sprinted to the lake and jumped in. Even though it was warm out, he wouldn’t have considered it swimming weather. Coupled with the fact that TJ had stripped down and actually dove in to look for the creature left Cyrus staring at the rippling water in shock.

Less than a minute later, he saw TJ’s blond head pop up, and after getting some air, TJ dove back under. This happened a few more times before TJ finally started swimming back to shore. He clambered out of the lake and made his way back to Cyrus, shivering with cold.

“That is not as warm as it looks,” he complained between chattering teeth as he reached Cyrus. The other boy started gathering his papers hurriedly to avoid water dripping on the, glad for a distraction from his soaking wet friend.

“I should have brought a towel,” TJ mused between shivers. “I didn’t really think that through.”

“Really,” Cyrus said sarcastically. Grabbing his wand, he pointed it at TJ, muttering the spell that produced warm air. Soon enough, TJ was dried off, and he quickly scrambled into his clothes.

“Well?” Cyrus asked. At TJ’s confused look, he clarified. “Did you see it?”

“Oh yeah!” TJ exclaimed. “Big ole’ beast, just sitting there on the bottom of the lake. Didn’t look too happy to see me though, so I didn’t stick around.”

Cyrus just rolled his eyes again. “I can’t believe you actually did that.”

“Why not?” TJ shrugged, grinning at Cyrus. His hair, normally styled so perfectly, now flopped down in front of his face. He brushed it aside impatiently, and Cyrus couldn’t help but follow the movement. “I wanted to know, and now I do.”

Cyrus just sighed exasperatedly and tried to return to his homework, ignoring the butterflies that had been churning around in his stomach. So what if his friend looked nice with his shirt off, or cute with his hair loose around his face? That shouldn’t be that big of a distraction. TJ was just doing his best to be annoying, and Cyrus really needed to focus. This wasn’t the time to contemplate the fact that seeing TJ’s scrunched up face when the warm arm was blasting him made Cyrus feel something new.

\-----

Normally the competition and rivalry that happened around Quidditch didn’t bother Cyrus, but it did get tiresome when his friends ended up arguing as a result of it. Usually, Buffy and TJ teased each other jokingly, but when Slytherin and Gryffindor played each other and the stakes were high, the joking had a tendency to turn a bit more towards pointed jabs.

Ultimately, Cyrus didn’t really care which team won. The whole thing would just repeat the next year, and a completely different team might end up winning the championship. But since he was close with both the Gryffindor and Slytherin team captains, he had to hear it from both of them. TJ and Buffy were very similar to one another as far as their personalities went, which meant that they were exceptionally skilled at annoying each other. On top of that, they both had the habit of coming to him to vent. He normally didn’t mind listening to their problems and offering suggestions, but since their complaints were tending to be about each other, he was growing weary of the whole situation.

He finally told both of them that if they didn’t stop, he wouldn’t come to the game at all, which effectively shut down the arguing (at least in front of him). It was mostly an empty threat – he was hardly going to sit in the common room alone on a Saturday morning – but at least it made his friends realize how annoying they were being. He was adamant that he wasn’t going to take sides though, which was a promise he did end up keeping. It was an impossible situation anyways; one friend would end up happy, while the other would be sad or upset. He would watch the game, cheer for any points that his individual friends scored, and not fully support either team.

The day of the match was a windy, blustery one. Even sitting in the stands where they were somewhat sheltered, Cyrus shuddered as a cold wind whipped through his clothing. The rest of his non-Quidditch friends were gathered near him, ready to watch the game. As the players rose into the air, it was clear to see that they would be struggling during the game, as the wind pushed their brooms all over the place.

It was a tight match; both teams were performing strongly, and the weather caused all the players to struggle with aiming the balls properly. Cyrus wouldn’t have been surprised if the Snitch had been blown completely out of bounds at this point. Shivering in his seat, he prayed that it was a short game so that they could all get back inside to where it was warm.

Halfway through the match, it happened. TJ had possession of the Quaffle and was streaking towards the goalposts. One of the Gryffindor Beaters took aim and hit the Bludger towards him. He attempted to swerve, but the wind impeded his movements, and the Bludger slammed hard into his ribs. It hit with such a force that TJ was knocked off his broom and fell towards the ground at a shocking speed.

Cyrus was on his feet without even realizing it, staring in horror as his friend plummeted towards the ground. At the last moment, one of the professors cast a spell that stopped him before he hit the turf. After some quick inspection, he was carried off the pitch and his replacement flew into the game.

Without thinking about it, Cyrus turned and started pushing his way through the crowd to reach the stairs. He had to see if TJ was okay. Ignoring the complaints of the people he was shoving past, he finally made it out of the stands and started running up to the castle. It seemed as though it took him forever to make it all the way back up the path and inside, but finally he reached the entryway.

When he finally made it to the hospital wing, he was panting and completely out of breath. He felt disheveled and out of sorts, but he found that he didn’t really care. He just wanted to make sure that TJ was okay. His friend was in a bed near a window, and Madam Pomfrey was leaning over him. She turned when Cyrus made his rather noisy entrance to the hospital wing.

“Can I help you, Mr. Goodman?” she asked.

“I just…wanted to see if TJ was okay,” he replied, suddenly feeling foolish. While it was a bad hit, it was hardly the first time someone had gotten hurt during Quidditch. And Madam Pomfrey was an incredibly skilled healer. He had most likely just overreacted, and now probably looked stupid, having raced all the way back to the castle.

“Well, he’s in for a rough night, but he’ll survive,” she said, starting to walk away from the bed. “Make sure not to jostle him too much.”

Cyrus approached the bed, trying to straighten his windswept self out. TJ was propped up against the pillows, his head tipped back against the headboard with his eyes closed. His Quidditch gear had been stripped off, and a loose hospital shirt took its place. As Cyrus got closer, he noticed the bottle of Skele-grow on the bedside table next to TJ.

TJ’s eyes cracked open as Cyrus approached him. He looked surprised to see Cyrus, but a slow smile spread across his face.

“Did I scare you?” TJ rasped out. Cyrus’ brow furrowed at how bad the other boy sounded.

“What happened?” he asked, sitting down and choosing not to answer the question.

“Did you not see it?” TJ asked. “I got hit with a Bludger.”

“I know that,” Cyrus rolled his eyes. “I meant your injuries.”

“Well, my ribcage is a bit of a mess,” TJ mused. “Everything from my neck to my stomach hurts like hell right now. And I think I got a splinter from falling off my broom.”

He held up the offending finger, and Cyrus felt himself smiling for the first time since the accident. He took the finger, ignored the swooping feeling in his stomach at the contact between his hand and TJ’s, and examined the finger with mock seriousness. All of a sudden, a part of his brain conjured up the image of himself leaning forward to kiss the injury, like something his mother would have done when he hurt himself as a child. Pushing the surprising (and enticing) idea out of his mind, he tried to focus.

“You know, I think you’ll make a full recovery,” Cyrus told him.

“Nice,” TJ replied, closing his eyes, as though having them open exhausted him. He dropped his hand back down to the bed, with Cyrus’ still entangled. Cyrus wasn’t sure what to do; it would seem rude if he jerked his hand away. (And there was a very big part of him that wanted to keep it there). So instead, he rotated his hand slightly so that it was clasped gently in TJ’s.

“Did we lose?” TJ asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” Cyrus admitted. “I left before the game was over.”

TJ sighed. “We probably did. My sub is terrible. There goes our chance of winning this year.”

“You have next year. And the year after,” Cyrus reassured him.

“Yeah, but I wanted to win this year,” TJ whined, making Cyrus laugh.

“You almost died. I think surviving that is winning enough,” Cyrus told him. TJ laughed, then immediately winced, placing a hand on his side.

“Sorry!” Cyrus exclaimed, cursing himself mentally. He wanted to make TJ feel better, but laughter was probably not a good idea right now.

“S’okay,” TJ murmured, relaxing again. “I keep forgetting too.”

Cyrus squeezed his hand gently, feeling a thrill as TJ returned the squeeze. He sat there for a little while longer, until the rumbling of his stomach was loud enough that TJ heard it and forced him to go down to dinner. Cyrus felt bad leaving him there alone, but TJ reassured him that he was probably going to go to sleep soon after anyways.

At dinner, Cyrus filled his friends in on TJ’s condition. True to his friend’s prediction, Gryffindor had won. Buffy was equal parts excited about this fact and annoyed that Cyrus hadn’t been there to see her score the winning goal. However, she and Andi kept exchanging significant glances throughout Cyrus’ explanation, and he was left with the slightly uncomfortable feeling that she had figured something out that he hadn’t quite acknowledged yet.

Later that night, as he was lying in bed, he found himself staring at the top of his canopy, lost in thoughts. The feeling of pure terror that had shot through him when TJ fell off his broom was something he had never felt before. He didn’t even remember making a conscious decision to go to the hospital wing. He just went, like he knew he had to make sure TJ was okay with his own two eyes. Coupled with everything else that he had been feeling lately in regards to his friend, he finally acknowledged what he had been denying for a long time.

He liked TJ.

It was so simple, and yet he had been unable to accept the fact. Maybe it was because they had been friends for such a long time, and he was scared of venturing beyond that. Maybe it was that he was worried TJ wouldn’t return his feelings. Or maybe it was because this time it felt different than it had with Leo; bigger and scarier and more real. He liked his friend; his history-loving, Quidditch-playing, funny, kind, smart, cute friend. The person he spent more time with than anyone, and who knew him better than anyone.

He wasn’t going to do anything about it, Cyrus finally decided. He had no idea if TJ felt the same, and despite his feelings, he valued their friendship too much to possibly mess it up. Maybe his feelings would go away with time. With that thought in mind, he rolled over and attempted to fall asleep.


	6. Sixth Year

Sixth year meant starting to really focus on the future and what they would do once they left Hogwarts. This meant dropping some classes and picking up some harder ones. Cyrus was leaning towards becoming a Healer, which meant he had some advanced classes, including Potions. He was particularly excited about that one, as he had always excelled in the class and was ready to push his abilities.

He had heard that Slughorn had a tradition of introducing some advanced potions on the first day of class, and he wasn’t disappointed. When he entered the Potions classroom, cauldrons full of new, interesting looking Potions were bubbling away. As he took a seat, he gazed around the classroom. Only a handful of students were present, as many people in their grade hadn’t made it to Advanced Potions.

“I’m so ready for this class,” Buffy said as she slid into the seat next to him.

“Me too,” Cyrus agreed. “It’s going to be great!”

The potion at their table was giving off the best smell ever. Or actually, Cyrus realized as he inhaled, it was several smells mixed together. At first, he was sure he could smell a buttery toffee that brought to mind freshly baked cookies. Then it seemed to be a flowery scent that sent a pang through his chest, as it reminded him of his Bubbe Rose and the perfume she used to wear. At lastly, he was picking up some kind of earthy, almost woodsy smell. It was hard to place, but it made him think of Quidditch for some reason.

Slughorn got the class started, and Cyrus soon learned that the potion in front of him was Amortentia, which explained why all his favorite scents were coming out of it. He thought he had heard that you were supposed to be able to smell the person you were attracted to off of it, and the thought kept popping up into his mind throughout the class. He was pretty sure it was the last scent, but it was hard to connect it to a specific person. It didn’t help that it kept getting mixed in with the other ones he was smelling. Needless to say, he was grateful when class finished, and he was able to leave the classroom and breathe in clear air that didn’t muddle his head.

That night at dinner, he found himself sitting with a few of his friends as they chatted about how their first day of classes had gone. Halfway through his meal, TJ showed up. He was still in his Quidditch gear, as he had decided to hold a practice right away. He had been appointed captain of the team the previous year, and the Slytherin team had greatly improved under his leadership. Or at least that’s what everyone said; Cyrus still didn’t know how to tell what constituted good when it came to the sport.

TJ plopped down next to Cyrus, grabbed some food, and almost immediately engaged in trash talk with Buffy who was the Gryffindor captain. Cyrus tuned their argument out though, as he realized something important. The scent that he had picked up thanks to the Amortentia was coming from TJ. It was that same earthy smell; similar to clipped grass and wood. TJ was on the Quidditch pitch all the time, so it made sense that he smelled that way a lot. Many of the Quidditch players did, but on TJ it was mixed with a scent that was uniquely him.

Cyrus tried to keep a neutral face as he continued eating. He wasn’t completely clueless; he had figured out that he had started to develop romantic feelings for TJ last year. But he had figured it was a small crush and it would fade with time. But clearly that wasn’t the case. He and TJ had visited each other over the summer and met each other’s families. When they weren’t together, they were writing letters almost daily. Over the past couple of years, TJ had become one of Cyrus’ closest friends, and Cyrus had a hard time remembering what his life had been like before he had met the other boy.

But something had changed, and during the middle of their fifth year, Cyrus had realized that he was feeling differently towards TJ. He knew the other boy was cute; there was never any doubt in his mind about that. TJ had also always been very touchy-feely. He was constantly throwing an arm around Cyrus’ shoulders, hugging him, and giving him fist-bumps (which was a Muggle tradition that he had to teach Cyrus). But at some point, the normally-friendly gestures had started to cause butterflies to erupt in Cyrus’ stomach.

Cyrus had no idea if TJ felt the same way. The other boy had never dated anyone in the time that Cyrus knew him, and never really brought the subject up. The only possible thing that could have given him hope was the fact that TJ had acted very strangely during the few months in their fourth year when Cyrus had dated Leo. While they normally spent all their free time together, TJ seemed to close himself off from Cyrus during that time. He was never overtly rude or antagonistic, but Cyrus barely saw him, and he seemed to avoid the two boys whenever they were together.

And then they broke up and things with TJ went back to normal. Neither of the boys ever talked about it, and Cyrus was left to wonder what it meant. He was too nervous to make a move with TJ, since he valued their friendship and was worried about potentially ruining it.

He tried to tune back into the conversation. He knew that the Amortentia just reflected something he already knew. Just because the love potion was essentially telling him that he liked TJ, it didn’t necessarily mean anything. It wasn’t predicting who he would end up with or anything like that. It was simply stating a fact. In scent form.

\-------

Despite the increased work that they were doing as sixth years (or maybe because of it) the school year seemed to fly by. Cyrus felt like his head was spinning most days; he had advanced classes, Apparation lessons, and Quidditch games to cheer at.  At least he didn’t have to worry about practicing for Quidditch. He happily left that up to his more athletic friends and was content to cheer for them from the stands. As the year progressed, the competition got even more intense (or at least that’s what he understood from Buffy and TJ).

The last few matches of the season saw Slytherin beating Hufflepuff, which Cyrus found he wasn’t too disappointed about. In a shocking defeat, Ravenclaw very narrowly beat Gryffindor, meaning that they would face Slytherin in the final match. Buffy was pretty upset, but Cyrus was secretly relieved. None of his Ravenclaw friends were on the Quidditch team, so that meant he could cheer for TJ. If it had come down to Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, he would have definitely had some conflicts of interest.

He could tell that TJ was excited about the final match, but as they drew closer to the actual day, he could tell that his friend was getting increasingly nervous as well. TJ hid it well, especially around his fellow Slytherins who were banking on him to lead them to victory, but Cyrus knew him well enough to tell that the pressure was mounting.

The night before the match, it seemed like the whole school was on tenterhooks. At dinner, TJ barely ate, and spent most of the meal staring into space. Cyrus was pretty sure he was running through plays and strategies, which he had a tendency to do before games. After he finished eating, TJ accompanied him out into the hall.

“You’re going to bed early tonight, right?” Cyrus said. “Get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” TJ said, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll try, at least. Don’t know if my brain will actually let me sleep or not.”

“Well, at least try,” Cyrus told him. They had come to the junction in the hall where they would go in different directions towards their respective common rooms. Cyrus eyed the Slytherin scarf wrapped around TJ’s neck. He had been so distracted at dinner that he had forgotten to take it off. Reaching out, he tugged gently on the end of it.

TJ looked down in confusion. “What’s up?”

“Can I borrow this?” Cyrus asked.

“Did you lose all your scarves?” TJ asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

“No,” Cyrus smiled. “But if I’m supporting Slytherin tomorrow, I should probably rep the colors, right? And I don’t own any Slytherin stuff.”

A slow smile spread across TJ’s face, along with a light pink color in his cheeks. Unwinding his scarf, he looped it loosely around Cyrus’ neck.

“Thank you,” TJ said softly.

“For what?” Cyrus asked.

“For…always being there for me,” TJ said. He wasn’t quite meeting Cyrus’ eyes, and seemed to be a little nervous now. Cyrus bit his lower lip, feeling his own cheeks starting to warm up. Suddenly feeling seized with a burst of courage, he said,

“Good luck tomorrow.”

He leaned in, pressed a quick kiss against TJ’s cheek, and then turned quickly to walk towards his common room. His cheeks were definitely blazing now, and he was too nervous to look back and see TJ’s reaction. He wasn’t sure what had overcome him, but he couldn’t change it now. He supposed he would deal with it tomorrow after the game.

\----

The morning of the game was an intense one. It seemed as though everyone in the school was pumped up for the game, and it was as though a thrill of excitement was running through the entire student body. Cyrus ate breakfast with Jonah, keeping an eye on the Slytherin table. They had gotten down to eat early, and it looked like they would be heading down to the pitch soon. TJ was sitting with his back to the Hufflepuff table, so Cyrus couldn’t see his face. He knew his friend would be feeling the pressure, especially since he was the captain. Soon enough, the Slytherin team exited the hall to cheers and whoops from their fellow housemates.

A little while later, Cyrus joined up with his friends and they headed down to watch the game. Buffy was still pouting a little about the fact that Gryffindor wasn’t playing, but she had agreed to cheer for Slytherin. Jonah had no particular loyalty to either side, so he had agreed as well. Andi had stated that she needed to cheer for Ravenclaw due to house pride, but Cyrus knew she really didn’t care who won the match in the end.

They met Marty up in the stands, and he grinned at the Slytherin scarf that was wrapped around Cyrus’ neck.

“Wow, you’re going all out, huh?” he asked.

“I don’t do anything halfway,” Cyrus replied. “You know that.”

A few of his friends had suspicious smiles on their faces, which he chose to ignore. He didn’t tell them the scarf was from TJ, but they probably would have been able to guess anyways. They were sitting in the Hufflepuff section, so they were surrounded by a mixture of supporters. Most people weren’t sporting any particular team color though, so Cyrus stood out a bit.

The game kicked off and the teams flew into it with high energy. Cyrus was soon caught up in the excitement, cheering whenever Slytherin pulled off a win. TJ was doing exceptionally well and had scored a large number of his team’s points. The two teams remained neck-in-neck as far as the score went though, as they were pretty evenly matched as far as talent went. It looked like it was coming down to whoever caught the Snitch.

Finally, after almost an hour into the game, the two Seekers finally took off in hot pursuit. It was impossible to see the Snitch from the stands, but everyone could tell what was happening, and the whole stadium was soon screaming for one team or another. The Seekers followed the Snitch downwards and were just about skimming the top of the pitch. They were so close to the section where Cyrus and his friends were sitting that he wasn’t able to see it happen, but suddenly the Slytherin Seeker shot triumphantly towards the middle of the pitch, Snitch clutched tightly in his hand.

The Slytherin supporters erupted in celebration as the team flew towards their Seeker and engulfed him in a group hug in midair. Cyrus jumped up and down and yelled so loudly that he could tell his voice would be hoarse the next day. Next to him, Andi sighed dramatically, but she was smiling so he could tell she wasn’t actually upset that her house lost.

All of the Slytherins soon flooded the field in order to congratulate their team, and the other houses started to filter out of the stadium and head back up to the castle. The Ravenclaws were especially despondent, while the other two houses were generally pretty ambivalent. Cyrus wanted to congratulate TJ, but after seeing the crowd around the team, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get through there. Instead, he followed his friends out of the stadium and decided that he would find TJ later.

Their group ended up stopped by the lake and decided to hang out there for the time being. The weather was pretty nice out, and no one had any immediate homework concerns. Slowly, Slytherins started making their way from the Quidditch pitch up to the castle, loud and exuberant from their win. The team came last, presumably from getting changed. A couple of them were singing a victory song which others echoed further up in the group. Cyrus saw TJ near the back of the pack, looking very happy.

He figured that he should go congratulate TJ now, since he would likely be caught up in celebrations for the rest of the day. Rising from where he had flopped on the ground next to Buffy, he started making his way towards the group. Halfway there, TJ spotted him and started heading in his direction as well.

Cyrus had a ‘congratulations’ ready, when he noticed that TJ had an expression on his face that almost looked like determination. It was odd, considering the only thing he should have been concerned with was the win. As they drew closer to one another, Cyrus slowed slightly, not sure what TJ was going to do. He was about to say something when TJ took a few strong strides forward and without hesitating, pulled Cyrus towards him and kissed him fully on the mouth.

For a few blissful moments, everything seemed to disappear except for TJ. It was as though no one else in the world existed aside from the two of them, as Cyrus’ brain tried to comprehend what was happening. TJ was kissing him, and his hands were on Cyrus’ waist and Cyrus’ hands had found their way to TJ’s shoulders and nothing else mattered.

However, they both soon came back to their senses, and Cyrus became acutely aware of the hooting and hollering that was coming from both his friends and some of TJ’s teammates who had noticed what had happened. He and TJ broke apart, both slightly breathless. TJ’s cheeks were pink, and he looked a little nervous.

“Wow,” Cyrus breathed out, gazing at TJ who turned an even darker pink color.

“I’m sorry,” TJ said. “I promised myself that if we won, I would tell you how I felt. I should have actually told you though –”

“It’s okay,” Cyrus said firmly. And it was. It was more than okay. To prove his point, he leaned up and kissed TJ again, ignoring his friends who were making all sorts of noise behind him. When they broke apart, TJ’s face was bright red, which was entertaining Cyrus to no end. There was very little that could fluster TJ, and this was an interesting development on top of everything else.

Reluctantly, the two pulled away from one another. TJ’s teammates were yelling for him to hurry up. While Cyrus wanted to do nothing but grab TJ’s hand and pull him away to somewhere they could just be alone together, he knew how important it was for TJ to be with his team and other house members.

“Go celebrate,” he said. When TJ looked like he was going to protest, he shook his head.

“It’s fine,” he said. “We’ll have time to be together later.” Saying that gave him a little thrill. He and TJ were together. It was actually happening.

“Okay,” TJ said, looking torn between wanting to go and wanting to stay with Cyrus. “I’ll find you – maybe not tonight but tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Cyrus agreed. “We’ll have all day tomorrow to talk.” TJ grinned widely at him, his cheeks still pink. He leaned forward and pressed another kiss to Cyrus’ lips before turning and running to catch up with his teammates who all immediately started ribbing him. Cyrus turned back to his own friends, all of who were watching him with varying expressions of delight. He knew he was in for quite a bit of teasing, but he found that he didn’t care.

The next morning, he and TJ took a walk around the lake, hand in hand. It was still early, so there was nobody else on the grounds. They talked – about their relationship and other things. Cyrus didn’t even remember most of what they discussed, but it didn’t matter. They were together, and that was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have slightly ripped off the original sixth HP book for this one lol.


	7. Seventh Year

In general, Cyrus wasn’t one to break the rules, but TJ had a strange ability to convince him to do things he normally wouldn’t. All it took was one look into his puppy-dog eyes and Cyrus was a goner. Technically, staying out after curfew wasn’t the worst thing they could possibly do, but Cyrus hadn’t gotten detention once since he had started at Hogwarts, and he didn’t want to break his streak right at the end.

But the problem was that it was really hard for the two of them to have any alone time. Since they were in different houses, they had to rely on the other to let them in, and then they were generally stuck hanging out in the common rooms, which were usually packed with people. Dates at Hogsmeade were nice, but all the places they could go were also very crowded. There was the possibility of hanging out somewhere on the grounds, but they had a tendency to get interrupted there as well.

So, when TJ suggested they meet up after hours, Cyrus was hesitant, but he also was tempted by the possibility of spending more than five minutes alone with his boyfriend. With great trepidation, he waited until everyone else had left the common room for the night before he snuck out. They had planned on meeting outside the Charms classroom, since that hallway had a few empty classrooms. TJ was already there by the time Cyrus arrived, and he was grinning widely.

“If we get caught, I’m holding you personally responsible,” Cyrus whispered as he got closer to TJ. His boyfriend just grinned in response and reached out to grab Cyrus’ hands.

“I’m willing to take that chance,” TJ whispered back before pulling Cyrus in for a kiss. One kiss turned into quite a few more, and Cyrus soon found his hands tangled in TJ’s hair, while TJ’s arms were wrapped firmly around his waist. They probably would have stayed there all night, but after only a few minutes of kissing, there was the sound of shuffling footsteps down the corridor from them.

They broke apart as quietly as possible, TJ’s eyes wide as he realized that Filch was likely around the corner. He grabbed Cyrus’ hand and pulled him in the opposite direction from the sound. They walked as quickly and quietly as possible, both feeling their hearts beating fast from adrenaline and the possibility of getting caught.

Rounding another corner, TJ pulled Cyrus in the direction of a door. In their haste, Cyrus wasn’t able to identify which classroom it was. They both slipped inside, and TJ pushed the door shut as quietly as he could. They stood there for a moment, ears pressed up against the door, listening to make sure that Filch didn’t come in to investigate. They could hear him muttering to himself as he limped past, but he didn’t even pause in front of the door.

TJ let out a big sigh of relief as they realized they were out of the way of trouble.

“That was way too close,” he muttered. His expression brightened though, as he faced Cyrus and moved to wrap his arms around his boyfriend again. “At least we’ll be out of the way here.”

He was moving in for a kiss again, which normally Cyrus would have happily reciprocated, but suddenly a flash caught his eye over TJ’s shoulder.

“What is that?” he asked, moving to the side to get a better look. TJ turned around in confusion as well. They walked over to the object in question, hand-in-hand. It became quickly apparent that it was a gigantic mirror which had reflected the moonlight into the empty classroom, lighting it up so brightly that it almost seemed like daylight.

“Whoa,” TJ breathed out as they got closer. Not only was the mirror gigantic, but an ornate golden frame stretched around it. Across the top part of the frame, the words, _“erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi”_ were etched. As they stepped in front of it, Cyrus could see that they looked odd in the moonlight. Its silvery reflection made them seem almost ethereal.

They stood there, side by side, still holding hands. Cyrus studied the words at the top of the mirror but couldn’t make sense of them. It didn’t seem to be any language that he recognized, which made him wonder if it was some ancient language or spell that had been lost to time.

“Why is this random mirror just sitting in an empty classroom?” TJ questioned, breaking the silence.

“No idea,” Cyrus replied. They both looked at their reflections again, but nothing seemed out of place. It seemed as though it would be some sort of powerful magical object, but for all intents and purposes, it just appeared to be a large mirror.

“Well,” TJ said, finally turning away from their reflections, “I think we were in the middle of something.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes slightly but smiled and pulled TJ back over to the side of the classroom. It felt like it would be a little weird to kiss in front of a giant mirror, and the shadows felt a bit less conspicuous. Soon, the pair were lost in one another again, and they all but forgot about the mysterious mirror behind them.

A little while later, they were sneaking through the castle again. TJ insisted on walking Cyrus back to his common room, even though it meant he would have to take a longer route to his own. They kissed goodnight outside of the entrance, and Cyrus wished that he could spend just a little more time with TJ. Although he had been hesitant about the sneaking out, it had ended up being okay, and he had thoroughly enjoyed the alone time that he and TJ had gotten. It was difficult to find time together, especially this year, between studying for N.E.W.T.S., TJ’s Quidditch practices, his Head Boy duties, and trying to figure out what they were going to do once school ended.

As Cyrus snuggled up into his warm bed a few minutes later, he couldn’t help but reflect on his relationship with TJ. Even though they hadn’t been dating for that long (not even a year yet), it felt like they had been together for so much longer. They had been friends for so long that transitioning from that into a relationship had been seamless. The only thing that had really changed was the fact that they were holding hands and kissing and going on dates. They already knew everything about one another, and they had been so close before that they didn’t have to go through all the awkward first date stuff.

Things would be changing soon, which Cyrus was well aware of. They only had a few months left before they were done with Hogwarts forever, and would be out in the real world. It was scary and exciting at the same time; it reminded him a bit of how he felt starting school all those years ago. He knew it would change everything, with his life, his friends, and what he would be doing come next September. But as long as he had TJ by his side, he knew he would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end! This ended up being a lot longer than I originally intended, but I enjoyed fleshing it out in a universe that I've spent more time in than any other.


End file.
